I just read a question and answer section in a nationally known magazine about masks that leak. You spend all the beginning time in basic SCUBA learning the laws of physics so you can clear your mask and how that works, yet why don’t the same principles apply to leaks? Well they do! In almost all cases a mask losses air allowing water to replace the air that has leaked out. It is a different way of saying the same thing, kind of, the concept is important though. 90% of air that leaks leak from the top of the mask and not the bottom, unless you are up side down or side ways thus most leaking is from poor fit at the top of the mask! I have had a beard or mustache most of my diving life and I am asked all the time if they cause my mask to leak and the answer is “ no unless I am upside down” as with the above statement the top of my mask is the important area. I have found the older I get and the deeper my wrinkles the worse the leak. If you smile or change your facial expression your mask my leak and need to be purged more often. If you have a young smooth forehead you probably dive with a dry mask. Yes fit is important, but unless you have a custom mask made to fit it is more important to have the right materials that will conform to your face and most importantly your forehead. Soft pliable materials are better for sealing against your skin. If you have to you can soften the skirt of the mask with a little silicone just like an o-ring seals a camera housing. Make sure your hair, hood, and anything else that may break the seal is clear after all it is the same principle! “Its what’s up top that counts”.
Papa Bear
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